The increasing density of motor vehicle traffic on the road network which approaches the limits of extension with regard to its capacity, leads to an increased risk of accidents. Although the risk of accidents can be minimized by means of modern driver assistance systems and the like, it cannot be eliminated. In the case of a traffic accident, rapid help for damaged persons is required. The field of application of the present invention extends to technical accident logistics created for this purpose.
From the general prior art, an automated emergency call system with the designation “eCall” is known in the European region, in which system, in the case of an accident, a message, i.e. this eCall, is transmitted automatically to a rescue co-ordination center. For this purpose, the vehicles are equipped with accident monitoring units. The accident monitoring unit is an electronic unit connected to the vehicle electrical system, to which unit an accident sensor is connected at the input. In the simplest case, the accident sensor can be an acceleration sensor which outputs an accident signal above a predeterminable threshold value of a negative acceleration of the vehicle which is above the negative accelerations caused by the normal braking forces of the vehicle. Following this, the accident monitoring unit determines by the connected positioning system, preferably the GPS positioning system of the vehicle navigation, the current position data of the vehicle. This information is fed automatically in the form of an emergency call to the emergency call center, which clarifies the situation and, if necessary, requests help nationally and internationally. By knowing the precise location of the accident and additional information such as data of persons, time of accident and the like, the rescue forces can act optimally. Apart from an activation of the accident help by automatic sensor system, manual triggering by emergency call key in the vehicle is also provided. In addition, the possibility exists that the rescue co-ordination center can establish a voice contact to the passengers in the vehicle in order to obtain, for example, other information about the severity of the accident. For this purpose, and for placing the emergency call to the rescue co-ordination center, a mobile radio unit is also required which is connected to the accident monitoring unit. Optionally, data transmission of other on-board safety systems such as air bag equipment, safety belt sensor and rollover sensor is possible which provide conclusions to be drawn about the severity of the accident event and the number of passengers.
Such a system and method are disclosed in EP 1 814 093 A1, which is incorporated herein by reference. When the emergency call is triggered, the geographic accident co-ordinates together with identification data of the vehicle, are transmitted in the form of a digital data message digitally from a mobile radio unit via a mobile radio network to the central call unit. The data thus transmitted are processed by the central call unit to form an advisory image and provided on an access-supported Internet page which is provided with graphical map material from which it can be seen where the vehicle is located. In addition, information can be transmitted by a telephone call to a local emergency call answer desk of the vehicle or by a central emergency call answer desk which informs the local rescue co-ordination center by a telephone call. The advisory image is retrieved by the Internet by the locally responsible local rescue co-ordination center after authentication at the Internet server.
The disadvantageous factor in this technical solution is found to be the completely graphical communication by advisory image which complicates the transmission of important additional information because of specified data formats. Furthermore, an Internet access and other equipment are required.
It has already been attempted to include elements of the voice communication, originally practiced as a part of emergency call systems, in modern automatic emergency call systems. In this context, a so-called text-to-speech application finds application in the vehicle. Text-to-speech applications convert text information into voice information which corresponds to a type of automatic reading out of text. It is determined by a positioning system, preferably Global Positioning System (GPS) at which position on a digital map the vehicle in accident is located. This position, comprising street name and house number is converted into speech by means of text-to-speech application, which is then automatically transmitted via a voice channel, preferably by mobile radio to the rescue co-ordination center.
The disadvantageous factor in this technical solution is, however, the associated great technical expenditure in the vehicle. In particular, the accident monitoring unit and the required peripheral electronic units must be able to implement the entire range of functions described above.